Colorado’s first brewery-bowling alley combo rolls into Wheat Ridge

The latest brewery in the works locally has a split identity.

Joe Malouff, an employee of Joyride Brewing in Edgewater, and Grant Babb, one of the brewery’s co-owners, plan to reopen the bowling alley at 2625 Kipling St. in Wheat Ridge and add a taproom under the name Live Slow Brewing.

It will be Colorado’s first combination brewery and bowling alley.

“I used to bowl at Paramount Bowl and Wheat Ridge Lanes as a kid, so like that bowling alley’s new owner, I’m excited to keep the history of the place alive,” Malouff told BusinessDen. “The space is so large to start off with, it wouldn’t make any sense to take it out, and it would also be a really sad day to see Paramount get completely stripped out.”

The 12-lane Paramount Bowl opened in 1954 in what was then known as the Paramount Heights Shopping Center. It closed in 2019.

Not long after, in February, Denver-based real estate firms Quannah Partners and Outpost Investments bought the shopping center for $4.5 million from Glendale-based Westside Investments.

The firms rebranded it Gold’s Marketplace after Gold’s Corner Grocery, which operated in the shopping center for nearly 30 years. They undertook renovations that included reconstructing the building’s facade, as well as putting in a new parking lot and outdoor seating areas.

“It’s right there on the corner where you enter Wheat Ridge from Lakewood, so it’s one of the biggest gateways that brings traffic into Wheat Ridge,” Malouff said. “That location has been craving an upgraded amount of businesses, and I think the businesses that have already signed leases in the space are going to be an amazing asset in the area.”

Live Slow will be joining eight other local tenants, including Berkeley Park Running Company, Esters Neighborhood Pub and Queen City Collective Coffee. There are three more available retail spaces, which are being marketed by JLL’s Sam Zaitz, Jeff Feldman and Lorenzo Harris.

Malouff and Babb leased the 11,000-square-foot space with a 3,000-square-foot patio at the end of October and are aiming to open in June 2022.

While Paramount Bowl had 12 lanes, Live Slow will have six. Two are being removed to make room for brewing equipment, although “we plan to reclaim the wood to build the bars and tables,” Malouff said. And four lanes will be covered with new flooring, although they could be reopened down the road if demand warrants it.

“We want it to be family oriented throughout the daytime, and stay open late for friends who want to bowl in a more party atmosphere,” Malouff said.

Other renovations include adding garage doors overlooking the patio and a small stage outside for live music, and updating the alley’s user interface and TVs.

Live Slow will have a 20-barrel and four-tank brewing system. The owners plan to brew a variety of staple and seasonal beers for the taproom and contract brew for other small local breweries. The brewpub will also have a menu of “elevated bowling alley food,” such as street tacos, wings, and tater tots, Malouff said.

“About three years ago, I wrote a business plan to open my own brewery. So, I kind of had this trajectory built out a long time ago,” Malouff said. “When I wrote it, I anticipated different locations. But I had been telling people for years that the building we’re actually going into would be a perfect spot for a brewery, and now, the bowling alley is going to be a huge component of what we’re doing. So, it’s really come full circle.”

Babb opened Joyride Brewing at 2501 Sheridan Blvd. in Edgewater in 2013 with his friends Dave Bergen and Brent Smith, and Malouff joined on as brewhand and beertender three years ago. Malouff had been working at Lakewood’s Landlocked Ales prior to that, and when he joined Joyride, Babb and he became close friends.